Yup, that was a KO gag (which arose out of need to explain away Wheeljack's absence since I don't own him) There's one more KO gag in that update I wonder if anyone got...I may have made it too subtle.

Sorry for the long delay with the updates...I've been busy with life, and waiting for the Decepticon's newest recruit to arrive from eBay. But we're finally about to see some action in what's been a quiet strip so far, so I hope the wait was worthwhile!

Wow, top notch stuff. I like the idea that Stasis Lock isn't just a case of "sit back and relax," even if Ratchet insists otherwise. Skywarp must have hammered them pretty hard if all that's left of sideswipe is his head!

I like the idea that Stasis Lock isn't just a case of "sit back and relax," even if Ratchet insists otherwise.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that idea came to me as I was trying to find a way to add some emotional depth to the scene. I liked the stasis lock concept Beast Wars introduced, but never felt it had any sort of urgency to it.

These (this and next week's update) are the most complex sequences I've ever attempted in photoshop to date; I'm curious about your honest opinion of how they look. FX are just a tool to tell the story, but have I used the tool well enough to convey a dynamic, kinetic battle? What could I have done better? Not looking for ego stroking/bashing here, just to improve my skills

With that out of the way, let's see what happened to the Viper twins...

Very nice update! I love the use of the outdoor locations, it really gives a nice feel to the pics, and the flow of the action was fast and explosive.

In terms of the effects, I thought they were mostly awesome. That first panel of Skywarp looks almost photo-real, especially with the lights on his wings. The lasers and explosions are wicked, especially the hit on Sunstreaker-you'll have to do a tutorial for those explosion effects because I want to steal them...er...I mean...borrow them. Yeah. That's it. (Shifty eyes)

The one thing that looked a bit off was, as ShadowDragon said, the smoke. It looks a bit too solid. Are you using photoshop or GIMP?